This sounds like a good start to an interesting project. You have to decide how you are going to measure the action of the soap. You could set up a scale (1 thru 5) for how dirty the cotton balls are in your ziploc bags. 5 would be very dirty and 1 would be completely clean. Then after you complete the experiment you would look at each cotton ball and rate it according to your scale. Then you can compare the ratings for the different soaps.

I am wondering on the procedure of the project. I mean I wash my hands with soap A and then rub the alchohol cotton on my hand but wo'nt it be clean since i washed my hand with soap and water so how will the cotton ball pick the dirt????????

You raise a great question. If both of the soaps you choose are good you may not be able to see anything on your cotton balls. There is a similar project on our web page that looks at hand washing. Instead of looking for dirt left behind you look for germs (bacteria, viruses, and fungi).

In this project you use a gel (glogerm) on your hands that makes the germs on your hands glow under a UV light. There is a kit you can purchase that provides the gel and the UV light. So you can have volunteers wash their hands and then look to see where the germs are after they wash their hands. The link I listed above has all the background information and a very good procedure. Take a look at it and let me know if you have any more questions.

thats another project i have planned for my other son (ok i have triplets in K so i need 3 project ideas) , the first one was the one i asked on "which soap works best" , next " will the crackers in the box break or the one in ziplog" (can you suggest the theme on this project??????????????) and last one is one you mentioned "how germs spread" (I plan to do with glitters)...

It is wonderful that all of your kids are getting into science! I am unfamiliar with a project on crackers. If you post the link where you got this project idea I can take a look at it and answer your questions. I found a related project on our web page that looks at the amount of grease in potato chips or crackers. You smash the crackers onto a piece of graph paper and then count the number of squares that are stained with grease. You can compare a few different types of crackers. Here is the link:

I think it is great that you are undertaking so many science projects with your children.For the name of the crackers science project, what about "Study of the protecting properties of different packaging"?

The crackers project you posted looks really interesting. The best part is the kids can eat the results at the end! Heloise suggested a really great title. You want to make sure it describes what the project is about. Another possibility is: "Box vs. Bag: Which package will protect the crackers?"

you can see by looking at the hands or photographic documentation , you take a picture and compare two pictures or write down notes for it.it's best not to use brands , [ too commercial ] , so compare the ingredient and quantities , so you can find the best soap mix.hope it helps

I was surfing to find some interesting stuff for kids at the Phoenix kindergarten where I have been teaching since last 5 years. Soap project appears easy and interesting to me. I am surely going to try it out with kids. Thanks for sharing!